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Amsterdam, Netherlands
Talk about a love story! A couple in the Netherlands chose to end their lives together after being with each other their entire lives. Jan Faber (70) and his wife Els van Leeningen (71), opted for euthanasia after both of them developed certain health conditions. The two met each other in kindergarten and were married for nearly 50 years. Jan had a back problem which didn't improve even after surgery in 2003. The condition was so bad that he couldn't work any more. Notably, he used to be a sports coach while Els was a primary school teacher.
Jan was quite depressed and shattered with his condition and would often talk about euthanasia. Els also developed a health problem and she was diagnosed with dementia in 2022. As her condition continued to worsen, the topic of euthanasia once again came up, but this time only to become a reality. The couple applied for duo-euthanasia and they were administered the lethal medication on June 3.
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Jan told BBC, "If you take a lot of medicine, you live like a zombie. So with the pain I have, and Els’ illness, I think we have to stop this.”
"I’ve lived my life, I don’t want pain anymore,” Jan added.
In a painful admission, Els said, "There is no other solution."
Jan and Els's son recalled to BBC having the last dinner with his parents.
“I remember we were having dinner in the evening, and I got tears in my eyes just watching us all having that final dinner together," said their son, who chose to remain anonymous.
Euthanasia in the Netherlands
Euthanasia was made legal in the Netherlands in 2001 under the Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act and it went into effect in 2002. It made the Netherlands the first country to make the practice legal. The country's official website states that euthanasia requests are made by "patients experiencing unbearable suffering with no prospect of improvement".